Defining observer jobs using the Observer Configuration UI

Before observers can load data, you must first define and then run observer jobs. You configure jobs using the Observer Configuration UI, which you access through DASH.

Note: Using the Observer Configuration UI is the recommended method to configure and run observer jobs, but you can also do so manually using scripts, as described here in the Defining observer jobs manually (on-prem only) topics.
Tip: Defining observer jobs using the UI is the same for on-premise and OCP deployments.
SSL requirements: To acquire SSL certificates and build SSL truststores, use the relevant instructions in the following section: Configuring observer job security
Truststore tip: The supported file format for truststore files is JKS and the file is relative to the $ASM_HOME/security directory. You can use the observer name as file name (<observer>.jks), for example VMVCenter.jks, and use any password that conforms to your internal security requirements.
To access the observer dashboard:
  1. Using a compatible browser, open DASH using the DASH URL. For example: 
    https://<DASH HOST>:<DASH PORT>/ibm/console/
  2. Login using your user credentials.
  3. Click Administration > Topology configuration.
  4. From the Topology configuration page, click Configure on the Observer jobs tile to display the Observer jobs page.
    All existing jobs are listed in a table by name, observer name, job status or job type columns, which are sortable.
    For each job its state is indicated. Hover over the state to see a tooltip with more information.
    From here, you can perform the following actions:
    Create a new job
    Click the blue Add a new job + button. The Add a new job panel displays all observers installed on your system.
    Click the tile of the observer to open its job configuration window.
    The Observer job configuration UI lists each job parameter that you have to configure. Define the job as described in the individual observer topics.
    View or edit an existing job.
    Click View & edit on the existing job's overflow menu to open its job configuration window.
    Tip: Do not change the parameters that uniquely identify a resource, or duplicate records will be created. Instead, create a new job, then delete the old job.
    Delete a job
    Click Delete on the existing job's overflow menu.
    Note: When deleting a running job, it will not complete its current run. Any previously loaded data will remain. You cannot delete a job that is in the 'Finishing' state.
    View job history
    Click View History on the existing job's overflow menu to open the Observer job history window listing the last ten jobs, when they were run, their observation count, duration and status.
    You can refine the list using the All, Complete, or Incomplete tabs.
    History is available for Load jobs only.
    Run a job
    Click Run in the Operation column to run on-demand (load) jobs.
    Toggle jobs on / off
    Click On (or Off) in the Operation column to run or stop listening jobs.
    Search for existing jobs
    If you have a large number of jobs configured, you can use Search to find it.
    Scheduled jobs
    If a schedule has been defined, you can hover over the Schedule icon to view additional details. The Schedule icon is either a clock icon if scheduled to run at set intervals, or an hourglass icon if it is scheduled to run only once at a future time.
    If a schedule has been set for a Load job, you can cancel the schedule using Remove Schedule, which will revert the job to a default, on-demand Load job.
Tip:
If an observer has been stopped or removed, you will be unable to run existing jobs, or add new jobs for that observer. Stopped or removed observers and jobs that are listed in the Observer Configuration UI will be disabled (grayed out) or removed in progressive (housekeeping) steps. If you are reinstalling or reactivating an observer, the jobs and the observer will again become available.
  1. Up to 5 minutes after removal, observers and jobs still appear as normal until the housekeeping process runs, but cannot be used.
  2. Up to 60 minutes after removal, the observer is still listed, but jobs are grayed out and marked offline until the next housekeeping process runs. You can delete existing jobs, but cannot view, add or edit jobs.
  3. After 60 minutes the removed observer is no longer listed, but jobs remain, though they are grayed out and marked offline. You can delete existing jobs, but cannot view, add or edit jobs.
  4. If at any time you reinstall or reactivate the observer, it reappears in the UI, and existing (previously active) jobs are no longer grayed out. You can delete, view or edit existing jobs, or add new jobs.
Parameters unique to a resource:

The following resource parameters uniquely identify a resource. If you change these after the initial job has been run, duplicate records are created.

For example, if the parameter of 'hostname' is replaced with 'Ipaddress' after a topology has been created, a subsequent discovery will consider the resource as new, and create a duplicate record.

If you need to modify the values for any of the following resource parameters, do not modify the existing job. Instead, create a new job.

Table 1. Observer job parameters that uniquely identify a resource
Observer Job parameter
ALM n/a
AppDynamics account
AWS region, dataTenant
Ansible AWX host, user
AppDisco username
Azure data_center
BigFix Inventory data_center
Big Cloud Fabric proxy-hostname, proxy-username, bcf-controllers
Ciena Blue Planet data_center,tenant
Cisco ACI tenant_name
DNS addressTypes, server, port, recurse
Docker endPoint.port
Dynatrace datatenant, hostname
File provider,file
GitLab datatenant, hostname
GoogleCloud project_id
HPNFVD datacenter, username, cnf_job
IBM Cloud instance, username, region
ITNM instance
Jenkins jenkins_observation_namespace
Juniper CSO cso_central_ms_url, user_domain_name, domain_project_tenant_name
Juniper Contrail api_server_url, os_project_name, os_tenant_name
Kubernetes data_center, namespace
NetDisco configId
NewRelic accountName, accountId
OpenStack data_center, os_project_name
Rancher accessKey, clusterId
REST provider
SDC ONAP host, username
ServiceNow instance_url, username
SevOne datatenant, hostname
TADDM api_url, username
Viptela data_center
VMware NSX data_center
VMware vCenter data_center
Zabbix data_center